Morning journal and courier., 1887-06-27

go forth from this place which speaks to you
with clearer voice than any other, it is that
you should carry forward with you to the end
this life of the mind and soul, the reality and
value of which you have already been made
to appreciate. And so of the other things of
which have spoken. The thinking of this
university and of every true university is an
independent thinking; but it is not think
ing which ends in negations. The man who
knows, by reason of the noblest influences of
his education, that there is an inward life
deeper and better than the outward life,
richer in its joys and fruits and hopes than
the latter can be, is not an endless doubter.
Much less is he content to ignore the unseen,
for he discovers in his own personal expert
ences that out of the unseen come the best
impulses of his manhood and the strongest
indictments to duty and right-living. His
life in the world-if it accords with the ideal
within him-is a continual testimony on be-
half of manly seeking after positive truth.
And the lesson of his life is that the possess
sion of positive truth is what gives energy
and effectiveness and heroic enthusiasm and
highest worth to all living. The university
does not send you forth, my friends, and the
call of duty at this hour does not summon
you to be doubters, but to be men of convic-
tions-to believe something in your own
souls and therefore, as by the impulse of a
resistless force, to speak and to do something
in the world. The teachings of the past and
the summons of the opening future alike bid
you also so to govern your lives in relation to
all men that, 80 far as yourselves are con-
cerned, justice shall prevail everywhere and
the rule of living in the world shall be the
rule of good will. IF the principles of the per-
sonal thinking of educated men, and of their
individual action also, with regard to the
great social questions and problems and diff
fculties of the present and coming years
were to be the same as those of true Chris
tan thinking, who can doubt that the end
would be nearer than it now seems to be?
The lesson which Christ gave his disciples
and the message which he committed to
them to bear to mankind-which he gave to
them even on that day of their final separa-
ton from him as precious legacy-were the
lesson and message of love. This lesson and
message have borne within themselves the
settlement of every past question OF human
society when they have been allowed to
reach the minds of men with the fullness of
their power. The history of our own nation
in the memorable experience of the recent
years bears testimony to this fact which
cannot be mistaken. The force which de-
stroyed slavery among US and made our land
for the first time the home of freedom for all
men, was the force which the disciples re-
ceived from Christ as they were sent forth by
him for the conquest of the world. In the
light of the past we may not question the
future. And in the light of the past we may
confidently believe that the working of the
force and it's movement will always be what
they have been: First, o stirring and con-
trolling of the thoughts and impulses of the
individual soul, and then powerful reach
ing forth from one soul to another and final
ly to multitudes, beginning with one or two
perchancs in weakness and obscurity, but at
last extending everywhere with victorious
energy. The lesson and the message which
carry with them this force, my friends, have
been given to you while you have been here,
and our parting word to you, you go
hence, is that you let them have permanent
lodgment in your own personal living. For
the force works from the man outward, and,
as has been already intimated, the order of
righteousness is first being and then doing.
But the call of duty, when you arise and
depart hence, does not forget the doing. It
bids you carry out your thoughts and princi-
pies into action and thus become, each one
of you, living force in the world. The
measure of opportunity and of influence will
be different in the case of different men
among your number. And this not simply
because the sum of mental power in one may
be greater than in another. In the variety
of gifts which distinguish individuals from
each other, and the fact of which is SO i'm
portant to the we'll being of society, there
may be importation of powers of nature
to two persons which are equal when estima-
ted according to all their bearings, and yet
in the one case the immediate and apparent
effectiveness upon men may be greater and
in another far less. The possibilities of in
fuence also, at least of such influence as is
at once recognized, are evidently much more
limited in some departments of professional
or business life than in others. We are the
creatures of circumstances in large degree in
this regard, and the will to do is often SEEM
ingly checked or hindered by the limitations
of the power of doing. But there is no edu.
Gated man who may not be an energizing
force in society.
The summons to all is to become so. As
you bear within yourself the right principle
and direct your own life accordingly in its
relation to all the thinking problems o,
evils of the time, the duty resting upon
you is to show this fact and when occasion
offers to proclaim and insist upon what you
believe In the private circle es well as in
the public assembly the truth may be taught
and impressed. Oftentimes it may be more
effectively taught in the former than in the
latter. Influences may be started in the
minds of the few which will penetrate every
where. You are not released from your OBJ
legations because you meet only the few OF
are by nature disposed to retirement and 6
quiet life. There is an opportunity for you
as truly as there is for your more active
friend, though it may not present itself sc
manifestly or with the offer of such wide re-
suits. And the call to you is loud as it is
to him to embrace the opportunity when il
comes.
Wherever you are in the future, my
friends, and whatever honorable work you
may be doing, you will be, and by reason oil
the fact that you are educated men, you
must be, leaders of those around you. The
responsibility resting upon you therefore is
to make known and impressively enforce
what you have first learned for yourselves
the right idea of living, whether for the in
dividual or for society; the true value of the
inward life as compared with the outward
or, as the words of Christ so strikingly set il
forth, the infinite worth of the soul beyond
that of the world. These are the things
which the men of our generation most need
to be taught, and they are the things to the
ny is summoned as he hears the voice which
speaks to him and his associates in the
words: Arise, let us go hence In this
summons lies the meaning of the voice.
The words which we are thinking of did
not, however, involve in themselves merely
a call to work and duty. They bore with
them also promise of success. It was to
be real success, notwithstanding that it
might be preceded or attended by conflict or
persecution. 1t was even to be such a sue
cess that at times the results of the disciples
working would seem to them more wonderful
than those which had followed the Lords
own working. How far greater and more
wonderful they would have seemed II the
veil hiding the future beyond the disciples
lifetime could have been lifted and the vi
sion after ages have been given! The same
promise is repeated now. A company of
young men like the one before me, provi-
ded they are animated by the right princi-
pies and consecrated to the right ends, are
not called forth into life's work, as the
summons of duty comes to them, to meet
failure as the result of their living. They
are to meet success. But it is to be suc-
cess as viewed from the true point of OBJ
servation and according to the highest idea
of life. 1t is remarkable, indeed, when we
consider the pressing in of such numbers
into the educated walks of life year after
year, and the fierce competitions which are
characteristic of the present time, that,
even as measured by the standard of ma
terial prosperity, SO few who go out from
our colleges are left altogether behind in
the race. Yet it is neither the divine Or
dering nor that of nature that all should
be successful in this regard. The teaching
on every side is meant to be that the life
does not consist in the abundance of the
things possessed. There is another point of
view from which, as I think, there is less of